The projectors we review in this story are hardly state of the art. We compared SVGA models (ones with 800- by 600-pixel native resolution) even though models with higher XGA resolution (1,024 by 768 pixels) are readily available. So why didn't we review projectors with the larger and, some would argue, better resolution? The answer is simple: Most people would never notice the difference in quality between images projected with XGA and SVGA models. The difference in cost between the two projector types, however, is readily apparentfrom $200 to $400 on otherwise identical projectors. That's a 10 to 20 percent savings on a $2,000 projector.

People use projectors mostly as presentation tools to display PowerPoint images. It turns out that SVGA is well suited for PowerPoint slides, which are usually composed of large text and graphics. SVGA can easily show a dozen lines of text in fine detail. In fact, if you are showing a slide that has text so small that an SVGA projector cannot display it clearly but an XGA projector can, then the text on your slide is too small for your audience to read comfortablyand you almost certainly have too much information on one slide. In side-by-side testing at PC Magazine Labs, we could not see a difference in images between XGA and SVGA projectors in most presentations.

Projectors are also being used more and more for showing movies and sporting events. Composite video requires only 450 to 500 lines of resolution, so the 600 lines of an SVGA projector will do just as well as the 768 lines of an XGA model. Even with HDTV resolutions of 480p, you won't see a difference in resolution between the two projectors.

The extra resolution that XGA delivers is beneficial in some instances, however. For example, if you're using a projector to display Windows applications and you're close enough to see fine detail, then an XGA projector will certainly display more information. And if your projector is HDTV compatible and you have a higher-resolution image signal such as 720p, then the XGA projector will give you better results.

But most people will be served just as well by an SVGA model. And they will save hundreds of dollars compared with the price of an XGA model. If the price difference between the two models drops to zero in the future, go ahead and buy an XGA model. But for now, you can save a lot of money by buying no more than what you need.

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